BU will allow Ruffin to play

PEORIA - Bradley University basketball player Daniel Ruffin was reinstated to active status Wednesday night, school president Joanne Glasser announced in a news release.

Ruffin, who was served an order of protection Monday from ex-girlfriend, Alisha R. White, 20, who claims he choked her during an argument over the weekend, had been suspended from competition since the incident. With the suspension lifted, he will play for the Braves on Saturday when they travel to Creighton for their final regular-season game.

Bradley conducted an internal review of the incident in which the senior point guard was arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic battery. The review, Glasser said in her statement, was conducted under the university judicial system and "included numerous interviews and the consideration of other pertinent information."

Bradley coach Jim Les, who Tuesday had emphasized the need to investigate thoroughly and make sure the final decision was sound, praised the administration for its handling of the inquiry.

"I'm very pleased with the process and ecstatic with the outcome," Les said. "I look forward now to focusing on basketball, and I know Daniel does, too."

Meanwhile, the order of protection, which is in effect through March 17, bars Ruffin, 23, from visiting White, also a Bradley student, at her residence or workplace. A court hearing will also be held on that date to determine whether the order of protection stays in place.

The court order stems from the 1 a.m. Saturday scuffle between the two at Ruffin's on-campus apartment, 908 N. Frink St., that ended with his arrest on domestic battery charges.

More details about Ruffin's version of that incident emerged Wednesday after Peoria County State's Attorney Kevin Lyons released previously undisclosed portions of the police report.

"We all know something happened. There was a confrontation, but on who started it - on that issue we're all rowing the same boat because we weren't there," Lyons said. "The issue here is, did in fact these two persons have a confrontation that led to a battery?"

During the argument, Ruffin said, he grabbed White by the coat in an "attempt to guide her out of the apartment when she wouldn't leave," according to the police report.

At the doorway of the apartment, White resisted and swung her fists at Ruffin, so he "pinned her" against the wall as a way to not get hit, Ruffin told police. His statements were omitted from the police report released Monday to the Journal Star, which had filed a Freedom of Information Act request for it.

As he held her against the wall, White "fell to the floor," where Ruffin again "pinned" her until he could open the door and "guide her out," the report said. Ruffin said he grabbed White's coat in the front or chest area while doing so.

Ruffin said he noticed White's lip bleeding after she "struck her chin or mouth on the corner of the door," the report said.

"I didn't hit her. I just pinned her against the wall and floor," Ruffin told police when asked if he choked White.

Ruffin was subsequently arrested then charged after his statements were inconsistent with White's injuries, which police described as "red ligature type markings" on the front and right side of her neck. He remains free on bond, pending a March 18 court appearance.

"We charge a person based upon circumstances," Lyons said, "of things that are visible and audible, the immediacy of her claim, whether or not there is some other plausible explanation for what we observe or hear - in this case cuts and marks to her throat - and whether the defendant tells an account of what we believe to be true."

Lyons was not swayed by a second statement White gave police hours after her first one Saturday in which she said she didn't want to press charges against Ruffin and "just wanted the whole thing to go away."

"The interest in the victim's expression that she would like it all to end is not only typical, but understandable when magnified against the glare of 10,000 lovers of basketball who may have other motives for a different outcome than mere ends of justice," Lyons said.

"Our investigator called her Saturday afternoon. At no time did she retract what occurred," he said. "She did express she wanted it to end, but certainly wanting a shower of negative attention to end is far different than making a claim that an untruth was told."

The "negative attention" Lyons said is the phone calls and text messages White has received from other students and basketball players "putting her in a position of guilt."

"Basketball does not in any way help us or hinder us, but it places a regrettable burden on the victim, much like other victims where the defendant risks losing his job."

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